I can't find anything on this from DeFalco. I have a Marvel Age interview that I'll pull out and see if there is anything in there. At the time, Wolverine was in a frenzy fighting Sue and Ben stepped in and Wolverine lost control and savagely wounded his face.

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More than likely though, Marvel was just jobbing Ben to make Wolverine look like the uber-badass that it wanted him to be, and it added drama to the story. I know I wanted Ben to kill Wolverine after that, but there was never a satisfying conclusion, IMO. Still is was a dramatic plot device and made you want to know what would happen next issue.

Just one of a hundred indignities thrown at Ben over the years. They've made him such a sad sack.

I blame Reed and Sue's kids. Maybe if he wasn't their babysitter all the time he could be seen as a bad ass. Sometimes I think they've shown Ben to be TOO nice...much to the character's detriment. Making him this bruiser with a heart of gold has screwed him up. He needs to be a bruiser without a heart of gold for a while and build a credible rep as an asskicker extraordinaire.

You know why Hulk always wins fights? He doesn't go around babysitting small children every week. It's not the gamma radiation. Ben's soft.